WASHINGTON, 2015-3-3 — /EPR Retail News/ — The National Council of Chain Restaurants today issued the following statement from Executive Director Rob Green on the introduction of the Corn Ethanol Mandate Elimination Act, sponsored by Senators Pat Toomey, R-Pa., Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and Jeff Flake R-Ariz., which would repeal the federal Renewable Fuel Standard corn ethanol mandate:
“We applaud Senator Toomey and Senator Feinstein for introducing this important bipartisan legislation to repeal the RFS corn ethanol mandate. This measure recognizes that the Renewable Fuel Standard is broken and that Congress should act before the mandate does even more damage to the U.S. economy.
“Small business restaurant owners in all segments of the chain restaurant industry, including quick-service, fast casual and table service restaurants strongly support legislative efforts to repeal the unnecessary ethanol mandate. The mandate has created a chain reaction causing volatility and spikes in food costs which hurt restaurant owners, suppliers, and their customers.
“The RFS ethanol mandate is a failed government experiment and must be repealed now.”
A PricewaterhouseCoopers study commissioned by NCCR concluded that the corn ethanol mandate costs the typical chain restaurant $18,000 in increased food and commodity costs.
The National Council of Chain Restaurants is the leading trade association exclusively representing chain restaurant companies. For more than 40 years, NCCR has worked to advance sound public policy that best serves the interests of restaurant businesses and the millions of people they employ. NCCR members include the country’s most-respected quick-service and table-service chains. NCCR is a division of the National Retail Federation, the world’s largest retail trade group.
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Treacy Reynolds
press@nrf.com
(855) NRF-Press